I've made a nice roadmap and am trying to add a basemap, but the World Topo Map has town names, so does the USA Topo map and the Nat Geo Topo map. how do I get rid of these?
[GIS] Removing labels from a basemap
arcgis-online-basemapsbasemaplabeling
Related Solutions
I finally found the answer: Yes, you can mask a WMS.
I used the 'Clip to Shape' > 'Outline of Features' and 'Exclude layers' options in the Data Frame Properties. I also used the 'Advanced Drawing' masking feature. Those two options are tricky to use. I learned that: 1) A WMS can be masked by using 'Clip to Shape' but not 'Advanced Drawing'; 2) With respect to 'Advanced Drawing', in order for a layer to mask another, the masking layer must be visible (checked) in the table of content; 3) If you're going to work with these two functions, I recommend to do this one step at a time. Start with 'Advanced Drawing' and once you are satisfied with the results, then set 'Clip to Shape'.
I would use the clip to shape option in the data frame properties. Have two copies of your basemap in the Data Frame one with no transparency which you clip to your town border using the option below.
Then make your second one transparent and sitting below the first basemap and exclude it from the clip using the Exclude Layers button.
Below is a very quick example of the sort of output you can achieve:
Best Answer
If you are talking about ESRI Basemaps, the basemaps usually comes with 2 layers, a reference layer, and the basemap itself. Turning off the reference layer turns off most labels.